


Still Human

by zelda_zee



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-17
Updated: 2010-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-03 06:17:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zelda_zee/pseuds/zelda_zee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A coda to ep 1.09. After the clean up, Danny stays for one more beer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Human

It had been a long day of sweeping up glass and digging up blasted apart trees and shrubs, patching holes and boarding up windows, and that was after nearly six hours of debriefing and paperwork followed by more debriefing. Honestly, Danny’d take the clean-up any time.

Steve’s house didn’t look much better than it had that morning, but it at least looked a little tidier. The windows would be replaced tomorrow by Chin's cousin who was a glazier, and Kono’s brother-in-law who owned a landscaping company was scheduled to come in next week to replant, and Chin’s sister's best friend's husband who was a carpenter would be fixing the siding over the next few days.

Danny had been about to leave with the rest of the gang when Steve had grabbed his arm. “You wanna hang a little longer? I’ve got two Longboards left and one of them has your name on it.”

There was something a little skittish in Steve’s eyes that Danny didn’t know how to identify. _He doesn’t want to be alone_ , Danny realized.

“Sure,” he said. “Why not?”

They settled into the old wooden chairs on the beach, letting the quiet fill the space between them. Danny buried his toes in the sand, thinking about how peaceful it was there in that place where Steve’s dad and his one-time friend had met their deaths so violently. You’d never know it, looking out into the cove, listening to the murmur of the water lapping at the shore.

“I fucked up,” Steve said, finally. Danny had been waiting for it. He’d known pretty much down to the individual words, what Steve was going to say.

“I fucked up, and it almost got the whole team killed. Not to mention precipitating an international incident. All because I was a bad judge of character.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Danny said, aiming for levity. “We all know you’re at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with the human race.”

“Danno.” Steve gave him a _look_. Danny focused on his beer bottle, picking at the label. “I almost got us killed. Do you have any idea how _not okay_ I am with that?”

Danny nodded, smiling a little despite the seriousness of the subject. “Given your belief that mistakes are something committed by mere mortals and that _you_ ,” – he poked Steve in the chest with the mouth of the bottle – “Steve Fucking McGarrett, are far, far beyond such human foibles –”

“ _Foibles?_ ”

“Let me finish. That you, Steve Fucking McGarrett –”

“You just like adding ‘Fucking’ to my name.”

Danny let loose a bark of surprised laughter and Steve looked away. Danny would bet a week’s wages that he was beet red.

“Be that as it _may_ , Smooth Dawg” Danny said, waggling his eyebrows at Steve, just to see if he could embarrass him further. “Nah, but c’mon – like I said before, you couldn’t have known.” He was serious now, leaning forward so he could see Steve better in the darkness.

“It makes me wonder about all my… friends. The guys I knew in the service, you know?” He glanced at Danny, before quickly looking away and there was more uncertainty in his eyes than Danny had ever seen there. “We were close – real close – but it was all about how intense everything was.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if any of those friendships were real, or if they were all just…”

“They’re not all like Nick,” Danny said. “People like him – they’re in the minority, Steve. I’m sure the rest of your buddies are good guys.”

Steve winced, lips pressed together in a grim line. After a minute, he said, “Some of the shit we did in the line of duty – you can’t _not_ be changed by it.”

Danny thought about what Steve might have done in the line of duty, thought he probably didn’t want to know even though he was certain that if Steve ever wanted to tell him, classified or not, he’d listen. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out though, given the events of the past few days. Black ops, assassinations, wet work, God knows what. It shouldn’t be hard to picture after having seen Steve in action, but on some level, it was. Danny had killed people in the line of duty. He didn’t like it, did everything he could to avoid it, but there were times when it was the only option. He couldn’t say it didn’t haunt him, but he knew he’d never put anyone down who wasn’t a direct threat to his life or the lives of the people around him. Danny doubted that Steve could say the same thing. He wondered how the guy lived with that.

“Yeah,” Danny said. “I get that. I don’t know what it’s like, but I get it. That kind of stuff is gonna warp some guys, take all the humanity right outta them. And that’s what happened to your buddy there.” He took a breath. “I’m just glad it didn’t happen to you.”

Steve looked at him, the ghost of a smile at the corner of his lip. “Yeah?” he asked, sounding sad and strangely hopeful.

Danny had the strongest urge to touch that barely-there smile, put his thumb right at the corner of Steve’s mouth and feel the curve of his lip. It came from out of nowhere, and he suddenly couldn’t _not_ follow through. Steve’s skin was warm beneath the pad of his thumb, his lip smooth and soft.

“Yeah,” Danny said softly, watching Steve watch him out of still, dark eyes.

Danny’s thumb curled around to Steve’s chin, rasping on a day’s growth of beard. He let his hand drop, vaguely surprised that he wasn’t feeling weird about touching Steve like that. But he wasn’t. It felt natural, the right thing to do at that moment. Steve felt it too, Danny was sure of it. He could tell from the way Steve was looking at him – intent and a little curious, but not surprised at what had just happened.

“Underneath that Iron Man façade of yours,” Danny said, “you’re still human, like it or not. And, like the rest of us humans, sometimes you get it wrong.”

“I like it.”

“What?” Danny said, distracted by Steve's steady, unwavering gaze.

“I like it. That I’m still human.”

Danny smiled. “And? C’mon, I wanna hear you say it.”

That got a smile out of Steve. “And sometimes I get it wrong.”

Danny sighed happily. “Ahh, music to my ears.”

 


End file.
